Even though the white house has threatened to veto it one of the more reserved members of Congree has decided to get behind the bill, which is a good thing.
If the bush vetoes this I'm sure he'll catch a lot of flac over it, so I don't think it'll happen, but we'll see.
I'm not a student of US politics, but even I'm aware of who Dingell is, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he's been a pretty staunch opponent to significant increases in CAFE standards.
If that's the case, what happened? Did people meet somewhere in the middle, or were things watered down?
I think he just gave up on it, because there is pretty heavy support for it. There are a few compromises, but I don't think any of them significantly weaken the nature of the bill.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — Brushing aside a veto threat from the White House, the House passed a package of energy measures on Thursday that includes a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States. But the measure stalled today in the Senate, as expected.
The bill’s supporters say it will reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil, jump-start development of clean-energy technologies and sharply reduce the nation’s production of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide.
But the complex and costly bill faces the prospect of a radical rewrite in the Senate because of opposition there to two provisions: $21 billion in new taxes, mostly on the oil industry, and a mandate that electric utilities must generate 15 percent of their power from alternative sources, like wind or solar. The White House threatened to veto the bill if the final version contains those or several other provisions passed by the House.
Well, harumph. I haven't kept close watch, but I don't "see the votes" to make this happen. If it does happen, it would be a big change when compared from 1990 to the present :
